All the information about this exhibition is on this website:
http://www.thelowry.com/events/everyday-people/the-exhibition/
'Over one remarkable weekend in May, Tunick will make a series of photographs and a new film of his multiple-site installation in Salford and Manchester. Volunteers will be taken, via a caravan of heated buses, to eight locations over the weekend of 1 - 2 May and asked to pose naked while Tunick creates the installation. The resulting photographic and film work will the be shown at The Lowry from 12 June - 26 September as part of the exhibition, Everyday People.'
I have signed up to be a volunteer for this installation on the 2nd May. The reason why I have done this is because I feel as though it would boost my self-confidence, and to say that I have been a part of a massive art installation like this one, I know i would look back and think of how brave I must have been, but also, that I would be part of a piece of art work. The idea of that really appeals to me!
I received an email off The Lowry yesterday asking if I would like to participate in giving interviews to newspapers, magazines, radio and TV press, and to give them my story of why I joined in with this installation and tell them my experience of taking part over the summer.
This is the email I sent back to them:
'Hello!
My name is Jenny Huddart, and I am just about to graduate from a 'Moving Image' Degree which I do at Stockport College.
The reason why I would like to take part in this installation, is because it would definitely boost my self-confidence and to say that I have been a part of this big art installation is just amazing to think of!

I work with experimental/abstract short films, I would like to show my work in Galleries, or at film festivals depending on which piece is suited for which area. For one of my pieces of work I looked at the motion of the natural body, and filmed a Nude volunteer. It was one of the best experiences throughout my degree work as I felt so comfortable getting the angles of the body that I needed. When I filmed my model, I was always thinking, she is so brave, I could never do this! I feel as though Spencer Tunick has given me (and everyone else involved) the opportunity to be part of something dramatic.

I have had diabetes for nearly 21 years now, I am 22 years old. I haven't let it stop me from doing what I want to do. There have been obstacles and setbacks, but I have always managed to get past them and follow through with the things I want to do. Every college trip I have been on, Berlin and New York I had hypo's, but the most recent trip to London we had I didn't have one, even though I was expecting it! It made me realise I can overcome my condition if I control it and put my mind to it. London was a very important trip for me, networking and meeting up with design agencies and other artists to show them my work.

I would also like to do interviews for the press (Newspapers and magazines), and maybe mention that my end of year degree show is open in June at Stockport College. The preview night is Friday 4th June, and is open for the following week 7th-11th June.

Thank you for reading!

Jenny

Jenny Huddart. BA (HONS) Moving Image. 3rd Year. Stockport College. Manchester.'
I basically thought that by being part of this installation it would give me the perfect chance to get my name known out there, and to promote Stockport College's end of year degree show!
They still need to email back, and give out information on where to meet and times etc, but i do think if they allow me to do interviews it will give me the perfect chance to help promote my end of year degree show and encourage artists and designers etc to come and see the work we have produced. At this moment in time, I' feel alright about it, but I know that as the time draws closer I will become more and more nervous and scared! I just hope i get over that fear.....

Earlier on this year, I came across a filmmaker called Damien Serban and emailed him with questions about his work. I was especially drawn to his Experimental pieces:
http://www.damienserban.com/filmo/xp.php
He kindly emailed back with answers to my questions and told me to keep in touch.
I needed 1 more portfolio viewing, done digitally, through email, I admire Damiens work and I thought it would be a good idea to ask him to have a look at my own work and see what he his opinions are of it, and any advice he may have.
He has very kindly looked at my work and given me a response to it:

Hello Jenny,

I have watched your work online.

I like a lot of what I see... I feel a bit out of place to tell you what I think because I don't consider myself to be any kind of authority in experimental films or art in general... but you asked for it !

The body, as you point out has some successful parts and some less successful, what I like personnaly is when you don't understand what's going on on the screen, when you recognize just enough to think you know what you're seeing just to be proven wrong by a movement, a color, a change in shape. I think the parts where you fully understand where is the body and where is the video projection are less interesting.

The Rhythm of the Body seemed to me a little more "classic". The editing works well with the music/rhythm, but the overall film with flashes of eyes and dirty video noise looks a bit too "déjà vu" for me.

Rhythm of People is really nicely done, I like the feeling it creates. Maybe what this piece lacks is a clearer "evolution"... I don't know if you prefer your films to be shown in art galleries or in cinemas... I know I personally prefer the cinema, I consider my films to be... well... "films", and I consider myself a "filmmaker". So when you do a film, whether it is totally abstract, experimental, love story, comedy, documentary, whatever... you need to create something that will take the audience by the hand and bring it with you in your universe. This is only my opinion, but I feel a lot of experimental films in general, lack a sense of dynamics, a sense of evolution... basically a sense of storyline (even without a story).

I like your music quotes, and I like the fact that you didn't just satisfy yourself with one try, but experimented to find what you were looking for... And I think you've managed that in the 3rd quote and particularly in the 4th.
The 4th quote has everything it needs in my opinion, a sense of mystery/abstraction, you think you know what you're looking at but you don't really, a real evolution, you really get drawn in the film and want to see more, to discover what will happen, and of course the images are quite beautiful and go well with the choice of music. It's my favorite of your films.

I hope I'm making sense, and I don't seem to "know-it-all"... because clearly I'm not. But if any of my blabber is useful to you, I'd be glad.

Take care.
Cheers
Damien

My rhythm pieces were done in the 2nd year of my course, they were the very 1st pieces of film I had created, and I enjoyed it so much I realised that working with abstract film is what I would really like to continue with!
'The Body' and 'Music Quote' pieces are my most recent, I actually agree with Damien about the body comments. And once i've graduated I aim to re-edit the piece to let it flow more smoothly and contain more mystery! My favourite piece is also the 4th music quote, this is the most recent i've done, and i feel like i've learnt a lot from that particular brief and it's helped me to understand my own style etc.
I feel that Damien's comments were very honest, and there wasn't anything he had really mentioned that I didn't know already. I am definitely going to take on board his comments about 'Evolution' and having a kind of narrative/storyline to my pieces, I do feel as though I have learnt this already as I am including this within my Final Major Project. It has all been a big learning curve for me!

Lauren Moriarty works with Textiles, she is a 3D designer. She mainly works with product production, designing objects such as cushions and lampshades. These objects though are not the normal products you see in department stores or 'home' shops. They have a certain twist to them.
Different people give Lauren a different label for her type of work, these include:
Textile Designer
Industrial Designer
Product Designer
3D Designer
However, when Lauren was first graduating, she had no idea what direction she wanted to take her work in. I think she knew that we are all about to graduate and wanted to reassure the majority of us who don't really know what direction we would like to go in either!
Her passion was focused on experimenting with material in 3D, and also lace structures, she was drawn to the idea of illusion. She put these practices in her product designs which make them stand out from the rest, they have that edginess about them because of the material used, or the use of interaction between the material and heat or example.

These are the laser cut hand - finished rubber lace panels. I think they look beautiful and very creative!

The 3D cushions she produces are more for the design factor, the look of them, they are on show, pleasing to the eye rather than to use the actual product for comfort. I think it is different and yet very interesting. She had mentioned to us that to create 10 cushions, it would take 10 days to complete! She had said that was the only down side to it, that when she's producing these cushions for a batch order, everyday feels the same, just like groundhog day!

I think the build up of the laser cut neoprene material gives the cushion a geometric feel to the design, I do think that it is really interesting the type of materials that she experiments with, and to then create everyday objects using her ideas, i am very impressed with her use of imagination and creativity.
But what really impressed me about her designs, is one product that she created within a collaboration with a design student. The piece is called 'Solarise' which is a lampshade product. It shows the London skyline which becomes heat reactive. So its starts off black, then within a time span of 5 minutes you get the sunrise effect, which then ends up showing the light risen in London.

It's a simple yet very effective idea, I haven't seen it in motion as of yet, but i really would like to! I can imagine the effect that it has and the type of atmosphere it would create in the home. I was very impressed with this piece.
One more design that I am going to mention is her use of pattern, and the different outcomes she produces with the same pattern.
Her Butterfly pattern has been used to create lampshades and also net curtains. There is a twist to this pattern design also which put Lauren on the contemporary and edginess scale for her design work! This is a motion pattern, the illusion is created by just layering the patterns on top of each other to make the butterfly's look as if they are fluttering. I like the idea of these products, as they are different and i am very impressed that she has put her design ideas into practice and actually has produced everyday products that reflect her imaginative ideas. She had also mentioned that it is good to change your original design ideas to go along with customer feedback. She had shown her butterfly lampshade at 'Pulse' in London, her original design was in black to represent the shadow play, but once people had seen it, she had loads of requests off people for it in pink!


One thing that Lauren Moriarty did mention which i felt struck a chord in me was her advice about doing an MA course. At the time of her presentation I was battling in my head about whether to go on straight to do an MA course which I would feel was more to do with my direction i'd like my work to go in. Her advice was to wait. Not to rush into anything. She had even said that she felt that her own work had developed further in the 2 years she took out to just concentrate on her own style and get her head around what she really wanted to do. Reflecting on her own life in a way. By her saying this, it made sense to me and made me look at my own work in a clearer sense and to realise that i needed a clear head about this type of stuff, it's best to do an MA once my own work has developed a bit more and i know for sure what area i would like to explore.
She has also done some commission work such as the winter lighting project which was help by the council for Camden street lights, Renault car designs, Southbank Windows and design work for the london eye! Her experience with this area was that she had to compromise a lot with the company, simplify her ideas, but when there are quiet periods in your life, then work on commission and with other companies, not just for the money, but to get your name known in the industry aswell.
This visiting practitioner was one of my favourites, she gave out a lot of advice and was very clear on her process and development of her work that she went through to get where she is today.

Hi Jen take a look at this guy, I think you'll like him. He seems to do quite a lot of stuff, but if you look under his video section there's some pretty cool stuff.

Ben Wilkinson is currently studying a Graphic Design/Animation degree in Australia. He has created a short film called 'House Of Cards' which looks at the subject of Depression/Loneliness in a different way.

House of Cards from Ben Wilkinson on Vimeo.

I like the idea of representing a subject using things you wouldn't normally associate with the subject. I think it reflects a good sense of creativity. In his description he mentions 'Each card that is focussed upon is symbolic of an emotion that the character cannot escape' He has successfully represented the atmosphere of feeling trapped i think, especially with the use of close-ups on the structure of the house of cards.
Another part of his description I was drawn to was 'Contrasting the different way each card scene was framed was symbolic of isolation versus overcrowding. This was specifically evident when the colour was adjusted to the existing lighting so that each scene was ‘cut off to the world’ as they were surrounded by darkness. A lonesome card surrounded by an abyss of blackness is bound to produce isolation.' I quite like his way of looking at Isolation, and the different techniques he has explored when trying to create this atmosphere. This has given me the inspiration to consider exploring the idea of using different objects to give them characterisation to represent the subject of isolation.

Another film that I have been looking at is by a film maker named 'Soulman' His real name is Devin Butterfield, amateur video creator who has a heart for lost people. He has his own website www.betyoursoul.com The website looks as though he uses extracts from the Bible which refer to certain emotions E.g. 'Wish you were never born?' etc.
The film I have looked at is called 'Alone In The Dark' which focuses on suicide and is putting across the message of what that person is feeling and going through and that it affects everyone not just the victim.

Alone In The Dark from soulman on Vimeo.

This video appeals to me because they have shot it from the viewpoint of someone who is feeling these emotions - We are seeing the world through their eyes which is what I would like to represent in my own abstract film. I'm not too keen on the music they have used in the film, but I do think that the visuals and techniques they have used are a good representation of someone feeling disorientated and lost.

For my Final Major Project, I am exploring the subject of depression and looking into representing the isolation felt by people who suffer from depression.
I came across this video on Vimeo by a film maker named 'Krazy/Skull Films' called 'Sell Up'.

Sell Up from Krazy/Skull films on Vimeo.

I'm not really looking at the style the film was made in, they are focusing on one person going through his own personal journey - I'm not looking at that style, but what I did notice within this film, are certain techniques the film maker has used to represent the emotions - such as blurriness and a it was filmed hand held which gives it a more rough and uncertain feel to the film. I like the use of extreme close ups used to emphasise that the most simple activities such as eating are a difficult process to go through when feeling these emotions.

I have been in contact with this film maker and media artist Max Hattler. I first contacted him while I was doing my 'Self-directed project' as I had seen a short experimental film that he had created called 'Drift' - When I was looking into who I could contact to visit in London it had suddenly occurred to me that I had read that Max was based in Germany and in London also, so I contacted him just to ask if he would be in London on the dates that I went down to London, and whether he would be interested in meeting up with me to view my own work and give me some advice. Here is the email:

Hello Max!
I got in touch with you last year about your film 'Drift', I don't know if you remember me?!
As part of my degree course in moving image, we need to show our portfolio's to people who are in the industry that we want to go into. Throughout my degree course I have realised that experimental film, showing them in galleries and at festivals etc would be my dream area to go into!
I am visiting London between the 28th February - 3rd March this year, to familiarise myself with galleries down there, and show my work to get as much advice as I can. I thought I would ask if it would be ok if I met up with you to show you some of my work, and receive advice and information about how you got your foot in the door and the processes you went through to get your name out there?
I realise you are a very busy guy, but if you are in London between those dates, and you have a bit of free time you could spare me, I would be SO grateful! :o)
Please let me know if you would be willing to view my work.
Thank you for your time Max!

Jenny

Jenny Huddart Stockport college BA HONS Moving Image. 3rd Year. Manchester.
Reply:
hi jenny,

I might be able to meet on 28feb, 1 or 2 march. can you email me nearer the time? then I can tell you for sure.

cheers,
max
At this point the meeting wasn't set in stone, and I was a little bit worried that it would fall through at the very last minute because he is such a busy man!
So I did what he asked and emailed closer to the time:
Hello Max,
I was just wondering if it would still be ok with you to meet up at the beginning of March? I have realised now that the best day for me would be the 2nd on Tuesday.

Also, my classmate Mike Williams has asked me to see whether he could come with me if we met up? He is interested in VJing and Concert Visuals, he has looked at your webpage and thinks it would be a good opportunity for him to get advise on his own visuals from someone who is already in the industry.

Would this be okay, For both me and Mike to meet up with you on the 2nd March?

Thank you again for this opportunity Max,

Jenny

Jenny Huddart Stockport College BA HONS Moving Image. 3rd Year. Manchester.
My classmate Mike is interested in concert visuals and looked at Max's work and asked me if it would be okay with him to join me in this portfolio viewing if it went ahead.This was the reply he sent me:
hi jenny,

yes 2 march should be fine to meet you and mike. I don’t have a studio at the moment so I’m trying to think where would be best. I live near old street tube so somewhere in that area is probably good, maybe 1pm?

cheers,
max
At this point it was set in stone and I was really pleased he decided to meet up with us! A couple of days before we were due to visit London, I emailed him asking where to meet, but didn't here anything, so I sent another email giving him my mobile number for him to contact me while I was down there. It was on the Monday when I received a text message off him telling me to meet him at a coffee shop near Old Street tube station at 1pm on the Tuesday. It was all last minute and I had been worrying so much that I wouldn't hear from him!

So when Mike and I met up with him, I was nervous at first, but gradually relaxed talking to him about living in London and how his work is coming along. We sat in a coffee shop, which was quite noisy and the sun was shining so brightly it was difficult to both see and hear my films, but we managed it somehow.
To begin with I showed him my show reel:

Showreel 2010 from Jenny Huddart on Vimeo.

His advice was that it is a bit too long, and that maybe I should include snappier visuals, he pointed out my fire piece where I included the little glows of light, and told me to rather than include the glows, include the actual 'BAM!' of my piece, where the flame ignites the material instead, just to help catch peoples attention.
I then showed him 'The Body' piece:

The Body from Jenny Huddart on Vimeo.

He really liked certain aspects of it, such as the abstract visuals I used where you cant really tell what you are looking at - He didn't really like it when you got the full view of my models body, it had ruined the illusion for him. He especially liked the ending where the face is distorted on the models body and it twists and turns in different directions. He also like the contrast between the slow ambient music and the fast jittery visuals of the veins on the feet and hands - He said he wasn't expecting it, and it had kept him engaged in the piece! Another criticism he mentioned though was that he preferred the footage where I had projected the visuals onto the body and liked the originality of it, whereas he didn't think too much of the parts that I had layered on top of each other - He could tell that they weren't original.
The last film that I just had time to show him was my 'Fire + Embroidery' piece:

Music Quote 04 from Jenny Huddart on Vimeo.

He told me that he really liked the idea behind it, and was impressed with the experiments I had done and liked the overall look of the piece, the only negative he had mentioned about it was that he didn't like the fact that you could see the white fabric when the flame ignites at the end - the glow of the fire lights up the fabric around it, Max had said maybe it would have been better to use black embroidery fabric to help conceal it more, it would have been better to have the audience still guessing at the end.
Overall he did say that it does need a bit more work, make it more abstract and don't give away so easily what the audience are looking at, keep them guessing for a much longer time to keep them more engaged within the piece. I am extremely grateful for this advice that he has given me - The positive points have given me that extra boost of confidence whereas the negative points have given me the inspiration to look at these pieces from a different angle and improve the quality of them!
I sent him an email when I got back from London:

Hi Max,
I just wanted to thank you again for meeting up with me!

It was a fantastic experience, and you made us both feel very comfortable and welcome, and you gave us the opportunity to look at our own work from a different viewpoint. Thank you for giving us your honest opinions, you have given me the inspiration to re-edit my body film and add more abstract visuals.

I hope we can still keep in touch

Take care,

Jenny

Jenny Huddart. BA (HONS) Moving Image. 3rd Year. Stockport College. Manchester. UK.
This is what he replied with:
hey jenny,

thanks for your email. and glad you got something out of it!
do keep in touch and show me the finished films in the summer.
good luck with it all!

max
I think that's brilliant that he's still willing to keep in contact with me! He had also told me that he doesn't really meet up with students to see their work ... I had asked him why he decided to meet up with me?...'You were very persistant!' What a fantastic experience.

I first found out about The Mill in my 2nd year of my degree course. I had created a 3D Jellyfish piece and found that The Mill's 3D design department had also created a 3D Jellyfish, and so I had emailed them to ask questions about how they had done it etc etc.
To music videos, one of the most recent being one of my favourites! They created the music video for OkGo who are famously known for their choreographed videos especially on the treadmills! The video below is 'This too shall pass'

Heres what they say on their website:
Created by OK Go, and directors James Frost and Syn Labs, with our online touches helping synergize the fun, the promo stars material possessions of yesteryear as cogs in a warehouse-sized machine, with the band’s members acting as foremen along the way. And OK Go’s Damian Kulash and his band mates aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty moving things along. But we wouldn’t expect anything less from the acrobatic treadmillers who got us up off the couch with their last hit video, “Here It Goes Again.”
Their visual effects have won awards for many of their Visual Effects works, they received a VFX Oscar for Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott! This was a well worthy award, as the effects in this film were outstanding and extremely memorable!
Anyway, the London team were extremely friendly and all looked extremely busy with their heads down and getting on with their work ... the atmosphere was very laid back and it looked like a very cool place to work in!
To begin with, we sat in what seemed to be a small conference/viewing/presentation room where they showed us their most recent showreel of their most recent work. Everything looked extremely professional and it shocked me a little bit when they told us that they had done the 'Go Compare' adverts! I despise them with a passion! But the fact that they had told us that they work with any type of client, in other words it doesn't matter how much money they have for the Ad, The Mill always tries to work to their best standards with what money they have available - They never dismiss a potential client if they don't have a lot of money for the Ad. They told us that by doing this, it helps enhance their reputation, they're open to everyone. I really admire that about them.
Our group was split into 2, and me, Tahere and Christinia went with one of the girls who was showing us around, we went to one of the 'Flame' suites where we spent I think more than half an hour stood chatting to one of the designers called Richard! There were 3 of them in a suit, all working on one piece of design work which was given to them. They were working on an advert for oil that is used in a car, they were working on showing the fluid traveling through see through pipes within a car. They told us that you have to work to your clients needs and basically do whatever the client wants. They sent the client previews of the work they had done, including research into how the certain parts of the car move when the oil passes through it, but the client didn't like it and told them how they wanted the oil to look as it passed through the parts. The Mill workers are in no position to argue that the current previews are exactly how its supposed to look, they had to scrap those designs and were currently working on the new ones, the ones they showed us when we were there.
The 3 designers told us of their experience working at The Mill, and the journey they went through to get there. I felt really interested in what the main guy we spoke to, Richard, was saying. Telling us their story, I felt involved somehow and afterwards I felt a sense of satisfaction that someone, well a designer had told me 1st hand of their own personal journey, It was nice of him to share it with us.
Overall the experience I had there was fantastic! Since I leant about The Mill in 2nd year I have always wanted to visit at least one of their studios! This was an optional visit for our moving image group, but I jumped at the chance of seeing them, and listening to what they had to say about their work, and any advice they wanted to offer. It was a very enjoyable experience.

When we went to visit Double Negative when visiting London at the beginning of March, at first I found it very nerve-racking meeting Vic, the head of human resources. She seemed extremely professional and serious about the work that they carry out at Double Negative. Our small group even had to sign a confidentiality form agreeing not to give any information about the current projects that they are working on at the moment out. This is very understandable, but at the same time the whole place had a very business like feel to it.
Despite the feel of the building, the people we passed in the corridors and saw glimpses of others working on particular projects seemed really down to earth and obviously knew what they were doing!
In the past, Double Negative have worked on some of the visual effects for some major films, such as:The above image is taken off their website: www.dneg.com This is the type of thing that we were shown, the different layers added on top, all the people we once thought were played by extras, are in fact clones of a small crowd reciprocated. I found it really fascinating looking at the build up of layers and how they all stitched everything together.

As a group visit, me and my Moving Image course went to see 'Psyop' a design company in New York. They work mainly in TV, creating the visuals for TV ads. They created adverts ranging from the Coca Cola 'Happiness Factory' Ad (One of my favourites)

to the Guinness 'Dot' Ad (Another one of my favourites).

When I first walked into the New York studio, I immediately sensed a relaxed, layed back atmosphere. They even had a few dogs running around the place! - But they were being very well behaved! It was just a shock to see really, I wasn't expecting it, I suppose it gave the studio a nice homely feel.
Psyop was the first design company studio that I had been in, I was expecting everyone to be quiet with their heads glued to their computers, looking very tired and strained! But it wasn't like this at all, fair enough most of the designers were working on a particular area such as 3D etc and so had to concentrate on what they were working on, but like I mentioned before, it was a very relaxed atmosphere with good personalities helping each other out. It was nice to see, nice to experience this kind of environment for the first time.
We first had a small tour around the place, I say small because the studio wasn't that big and didn't have a huge amount of people working for them. But that is their style, they prefer it that way as they feel more organised and focused on the projects they need to work on. When I looked around at the people working at their desks, I could tell that they were working comfortably in this environment.
We sat in a viewing room, where they showed us a reel of their previous work which includes mainly TV adverts. These include Aero, Baileys (The splashes of Baileys on plump lips which appear from darkness), PS3, Peugeot, Audi, etc etc - Some of these adverts are very recognisable and very cleverly done at an amazing high standard quality.
One advert that really stands out for me is the Stella Artois 'Dove' advert.

I am not really into commercial design, but it is still good to look into it and view the creative ideas and techniques that these type of companies use, plus I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to see this kind of environment, especially in New York. This advert really stood out for me when they showed it us due to the colour ranging of the footage, the tinting and colouring of the work brings a certain type of atmosphere to it, I like what they have done.
I found this small interview on a design website with a couple of the designers from Psyop talking about the 'Dove' for Stella Artois piece:
Here are some extra tidbits from Psyop’s Eben Mears and Marco Spier:

What was the creative brief from the agency?
We were given an animatic and a print style frame that was about a paper-cut world. The basic story line was that of a craftsman who is making a bird out of paper and this bird comes to life. The brief was to start with a live action hero and transition into a magical world of animation.

How did you approach this job creatively?
We started by studying traditional still-lives and paper sculpture to find the right aesthetic. Ultimately we were fascinated with making translucent paper that seemed like it was lit from inside. We thought there was real beauty in how light would affect the paper and the space around it. The live action was shot in the Ukraine with DP Darran Tiernan and our local production company, Radioactiv Films.

What tools/software were used:
Maya, Houdini, XSI, AE and Fusion

http://motionographer.com/2008/12/03/psyop-stella-artois-dove/

I felt really inspired when the company told us that they experiment with so many different things in so many different ways - Paper sculptures being just one of them! It was nice to hear that they hadn't just gone into a 3D program and made everything in there from scratch, they took the time to explore the subject they were creating and used different methods to create the right piece of footage for the advert.
Overall I think my first time experience at a design studio was surprisingly nice, I had expected to feel overwhelmed with all the equipment and programs they use to create these pieces, and at first I was, but looking back on it now I realise that it was the atmosphere of the whole studio that made me relax and start to enjoy what I was looking at. They really did impress me and inspire me to experiment more with materials to explore different ways of research.

I found a few pieces of films by Sarah Pucill and was immediately drawn to them - Within her films, she creates an 'old style' atmosphere, they are very engaging and extremely well thought out.
This is how her film making style is described on her website:

Sarah Pucill’s films and photographs explore the mirroring and merging we seek in the Other; a sense of self which is transformative and fluid. Her work is concerned with the idea that as subjects we are not separate and draws together surfaces of inside and outside, the animate and inanimate, probing a journey between mirror and surface.
http://sarahpucill.co.uk/

Here are just a couple of the films that really caught my eye, due to the use of the sound technique that she uses.

Mirrored Measure - Sarah Pucill
'Mirrored Measure features two women separated by a generation. The older woman ceremoniously lays a table – she repeatedly spreads a cloth and smoothes it out. The table is set and glasses and jug filled with water. A balanced and controlled ritual follows in which the jug is passed round and water is repeatedly sipped. Water becomes the lens through which we see and the medium through which the protagonists connect. The sense of connectivity is abruptly severed when the first glass tumbles.'

You Be Mother - Sarah Pucill
'Awarded ‘Best Experimental Film’ Oberhausen Short Film Festival 1991 ‘Best Innovation Prize’
Atlanta Short Film Festival 1993

You Be Mother uses stop-frame animation to disrupt the traditional orders of animate and inanimate, the fluid and the solid. An hallucinatory space is set up when a frozen image of the artist’s face is projected onto weighty pieces of crockery atop a table. Ears, eyes, nose and mouth, all become spatially dislocated as a determined hand begins to reposition, decant and mix. Events unfold to the amplified sounds of grinding, pouring and stirring.'

I decided that after seeing these films I had to get in touch with her and maybe ask to see if she could give me any advice on capturing good sound quality. I emailed her just before I visited London and because she is based in London I incorporated questions to do with Galleries in London, and if she could advise any to visit etc.

Hello Sarah
My name is Jenny Huddart, and I am currently in my final year of a Moving Image degree.
I have been researching some of your films and they have really inspired my own work. I am especially drawn to 'Mirrored Measure' and 'You be Mother'. I am inspired by your use of sound within your short films, and for my final major project I would like to record my own sounds for my piece - Do you have any advice on how to get the best sound quality when recording in a certain environment?

When I finish my degree I aim to become a Video Installation Artist - I have noticed that you show your work in Galleries and at film festivals etc - which is what ideally I would like to do also. I was just wondering how you first got your foot in the door? How did you start getting your name known in this industry. If you have any advice for me I would be extremely grateful!

I'm visiting London at the beginning of March, and I have contacted a couple of galleries to see if I could speak to someone for background information on the processes artists go through to get their work shown in galleries. None have replied as of yet. Would you recommend any to me as I see you are based in London yourself?

Thank you for your time

Jenny

Jenny Huddart BA HONS Stockport College. Moving Image, 3rd year. Manchester.

This is what she replied to me with:
Dear Jenny

A good way to record sound is to use an H4 Handy Recorder which you could get from a music store.... Costs around 200 pounds.
You just have to keep sending stuff off. I dont really have an answer else I would be in a better position myself! Just keep making contacts and finding out what the scene is,, ie who shows what where and then let people know who would be relevant what you are doing.

Good luck with your work.

best regards

Sarah
Sarah has asked me to take out a sentence that she had originally put in the email, she wasn't comfortable letting other people see this certain comment she had made, but told me to include the rest as she was comfortable with that.
I'm just grateful that she had replied to me, because any kind of advice that people who are known in this type of industry give me, I think is important to if not take it on board, at least keep it in mind for future preferences.


Milk And Glass - Sarah Pucill
'In this film an interior landscape is scrutinised, and an apparent rational calm is revealed as suffocating. Milk and Glass is an evocative journey from surface to interior – a black-coated mirror, the hollow of a bowl, a cavernous throat; a brush demarcates a line of lip on a flat surface, a mouth doubles up with the bowl and is virtually spoon-fed till it chokes.'
This is my favourite film of the selection on her website due to the technique she uses and the creativeness of the piece! I was mesmerised by it from the very beginning and thought it was very engaging!